Outsource This, Not That: A Guide for Small Businesses
"do not outsource the voice that tells the story"" only the chairs the audience sits on." —Huzi
Below is a field-tested menu: left column = ship away, right column = clutch tight. Print it, tape it above your desk, and glance at it every time growth-greed whispers "just let it all go."
1. OUTSOURCE ➜ Bookkeeping & Tax Prep
Why | Rules mutate yearly; one wrong decimal can buy you a date with the FBR. How | Hire cloud-based CPA firm (Pakistan avg $150""$300/month for < $500 k revenue). Tools | Xero, QuickBooks, Wise auto-feed. Red flag | If they won't sign an NDA or give you admin access, walk.
2. KEEP ➜ Cash-Flow Oversight
Daily glance at receivables, burn rate, runway—this is the pulse, not the paperwork. Schedule 15 min every morning; no third-party can feel your oxygen dropping faster than you.
3. OUTSOURCE ➜ Payroll Processing
Why | Statutory deductions, EOBI, EOBI increases, overtime maths—let robots and nerds handle it. Cost | ~$4""$6 per employee/month locally; cheaper than one penalty. Bonus | Direct deposit saves you a trip to the bank with a suitcase of envelopes (yes, that still happens).
4. KEEP ➜ Hiring Decisions
Culture is brewed at the first handshake. Outsource screening, not selection. Final interview = founder territory; nobody else will guard the cathedral gates with the same ferocity.
5. OUTSOURCE ➜ Graphic Design & Brand Collateral
Logos, social posts, packaging—use vetted freelancers (Behance, Dribbble, Facebook group "Pakistani Designers"). Flat rate: $50 logo, $15 Instagram template pack. Provide a 3-word mood board ("Sufi-cyber-minimal") to avoid psychedelic camels.
6. KEEP ➜ Brand Voice & Story
The narrative arc—why you exist, why anyone should care—must sweat from your own pores. Outsource illustration, never genesis.
7. OUTSOURCE ➜ Website Development
Custom code, speed optimisation, plugin updates—ship it. Tip: Hire on retainer ($200/month) for 2 h maintenance; you focus on conversion copy, not CSS tantrums.
8. KEEP ➜ Core Product Recipe
Whether it's nani's biryani masala ratio or your SaaS algorithm, keep the secret sauce in-house. NDAs expire; nostalgia doesn't.
9. OUTSOURCE ➜ Customer-Support Tier 1
FAQs, order status, return labels—train a VA team, pay $4/h, run Zendesk macros. Escalate only anomalies to you.
10. KEEP ➜ Customer Apologies & Save-Offers
The moment a complaint crosses the "I'm leaving" threshold, the founder enters—personal email, phone call, refund + gift. Loyalty is forged in the furnace of recovery.
11. OUTSOURCE ➜ Content Editing / Video Cutting
Raw footage ➜ polished Reel in 48 h for $30? Yes. Provide time-stamps of golden takes; let them splice b-roll of Karachi sunset.
12. KEEP ➜ Content Strategy & Calendar
What stories align with Ramadan launch, cricket final, Black-Friday-in-Pakistan? That radar lives inside your skull.
13. OUTSOURCE ➜ Digital Ads Management
Google, Meta, TikTok—certified media buyers spend 8 h a day inside dashboards that would melt your eyeballs. Pay 10 % of ad spend or PKR 50 k flat, whichever higher.
14. KEEP ➜ Offer Creation & Pricing Psychology
Only you know the margin, the fear, the urgency. Outsource the knob-twiddling, not the knob-creation.
15. OUTSOURCE ➜ Legal Templates
Terms-of-service, refund policy, vendor agreement—buy from reputable legal-template shop, then customise. Cost: $99 vs $1,200 bespoke billable hours.
16. KEEP ➜ Litigation Decisions
When to fight, when to settle—this is chess, not checkers. Keep your finger on the king.
17. OUTSOURCE ➜ Fulfilment / 3PL
Pick-pack-ship scales linearly; you don't. Local 3PL in Karachi & Lahore charges ~PKR 25 per pick + courier cost; frees garage from carton towers.
18. KEEP ➜ Unboxing Experience
Tissue colour, thank-you card copy, free sticker—micro-moments that spark UGC. Visit the warehouse, assemble one prototype box yourself, then hand the SOP to the packers.
19. OUTSOURCE ➜ Lead-Gen Cold Calling
Scripted appointment setting for B2B; pay per qualified call ($8""$12). You close, they prospect.
20. KEEP ➜ Investor Relations
Cap-table drama, valuation narrative, exit vision—outsiders can draft decks, but passion must be live-streamed from your pupils.
21. OUTSOURCE ➜ Translation & Localization
Urdu, Punjabi, Chinese—native freelancers on Upwork ($0.04/word). You approve glossary of core terms so "craft" doesn't become "airplane" in Mandarin.
22. KEEP ➜ Company Values Poster
If you can't write it hung-over at 2 a.m. from memory, it's not a value—it's a marketing line.
23. OUTSOURCE ➜ Market Research Surveys
Panel providers, SurveyMonkey audience—get 400 responses overnight for $200. Analyse the crosstabs yourself; insight is born in the questions you ask of the data.
24. KEEP ➜ Final Say on Pivot vs Persevere
Only the captain decides when to turn the ship; consultants can read the stars, not feel the leak.
25. OUTSOURCE ➜ Cleaning the Office
$80/month for nightly vacuum & trash; never ask your MBA-trained ops manager to unclog the pantry sink.
26. KEEP ➜ Decorating the First Office
The colour of the accent wall, the quote by the door—that's culture wallpaper. Paint it yourself (or at least hold the brush).
Cheat-Sheet Summary
OUTSOURCE = Repetitive, rule-based, scale-heavy, specialist-tools-required. KEEP = Strategic, values-based, customer-facing at emotional inflection points, or requiring founder authority.
Stick this list inside your journal; update it every quarter. Outsource wisely, and you'll buy back time without selling your soul"" a currency that compounds faster than any marketing funnel ever could.
Here's to working on the circus, not juggling in every tent, —Huzi blogs.huzi.pk
